Costs associated with COVID-19 in healthcare personnel in Greece: a cost-of-illness analysis

Maltezou, Helena C.; Giannouchos, Theodoros V.; Pavli, Androula; Tsonou, Paraskeui; Dedoukou, Xanthi; Tseroni, Maria; Papadima, Kalliopi; Hatzigeorgiou, Dimitrios; Sipsas, Nikolaos V.; Souliotis, Kyriakos

BACKGROUND: Healthcare personnel (HCP) are at increased risk for SARS-CoV-2 infection. AIM: To estimate the costs related to COVID-19 exposure and infection among HCP in Greece. METHODS: Data were retrieved from the national database of SARS-CoV-2 infections and from the database of HCP exposed to COVID-19. A cost-of-illness analysis was performed to estimate total, direct and indirect, costs. RESULTS: We studied 254 HCP with COVID-19 and 3,332 HCP exposed to COVID-19 during the first epidemic wave. Of the 254 HCP with COVID-19, 49 (19.3%) were hospitalized (mean hospitalization: 11.6 days) and four were admitted to intensive care unit (mean duration: 10.8 days). Overall, 1,332 (40%) exposed HCP had a mean duration of absenteeism of 7.5 days while 252 (99.2%) HCP with COVID-19 had a mean duration of absenteeism of 25.8 days. The total costs for the management of the two groups were estimated at 1,735,830 Euros (772,890 Euros for the HCP with COVID-19 and 962,940 Euros for the exposed HCP). Absenteeism accounted for the large share of total costs (80.4% of all expenditures), followed by costs for RT-PCR and hospitalization costs (10.2% and 6.5% of all expenditures, respectively). CONCLUSION: Our study confirms that COVID-19 is associated with increased rates and duration of absenteeism among HCP. Indirect costs and particularly absenteeism is the major driver of total costs among exposed to and infected with COVID-19 HCP. The estimated total costs are underestimated. Studies are needed to explore the impact of COVID-19 vaccination of HCP on absenteeism and COVID-19-associated costs.